i want to thank mark steyn. we'll see more of mark steyn tonight. hosting tucker carlson on fox news channel. >> they're really scraping bottom of the barrel for hosts. that time of year. charles: great to have you. david asman in for neil cavuto. take it away. david: thank you, charles. welcome to "cavuto: coast to coast." i'm david asman in for neil cavuto. shopper spending $800 billion according it mastercard. will this momentum continue with tax relief on the way? ask our panelists for entire hour. we had to pay these nice extra. "wall street journal's" james freeman. they are laughing. and cabot phillips. good to see you both. james, $800 billion. biggest year-over-year jump since 2011 by the way. we never had anything like it. what is going on here?

>> you have confident consumers. you have consumers that are spending. now they have got even more reason to be optimistic with tax reform and i think you say see a bump here. as you know a lot of our media brethren were telling people how this tax deal was so terrible and essentially only the koch brothers will benefit. now that it is enacted people see you get tax cuts across the income ladder. i think that could be another driver for more optimism. david: cabot, before we jump right into politics as james wanted us to, we tend to focus always on amazon and online stores. incredible thing about this, this is still the stores that people walked into. real stores people walked into that led this growth. >> i don't think that will be a long term thing. i think amazon will continue to take over that space but -- david: their growth is much greater than the growth of stores. >> exactly. it is interesting to see how to

go back to politics a year ago a lot of people were saying take everything out of market if president trumps wins. it will be complete volatility and economy will end. now we keep hitting record highs. millenials will improve more. so much misinformation about the tax bill and economy where they are convinced new tax plan will hurt them. they begin to get paychecks, and see impact, consumer confidence will only grow. david: i have to stay on you this second with this point, we were talking how millenials living at home may have the opportunity as a result of this boom to get their own place, to have a high, more high paying job than they have had before. do you really think there is political, political legs to what happens here? >> i absolutely do for the last eight years, millenials came out of college during time of volatility. they see their parents struggle under obama economy. now that has changed. they hear positive reports about growth and stability.

i have personal experience after friends after college, i want to start a business. the economy is not great right now for starting new businesses. as they see the narrative change and begin to see economic growth there will be a lot more room for young people to start businesses and get more confidence. david: james, you look at polls and see the millenials are biggest single voting group according to age right now and they vote two to one for democrats. there doesn't seem as of yet carryover to what happens in the economy to change of attitude. >> that's right. not just polls. look at results. alabama is kind of a special case but if you look at the virginia governor's race, high turnout among democrats and young people what was the obama coalition. so i think republicans have got to be concerned about that but i think now they have got a good argument for next fall. david: how do they make that argument? >> i think what has to happen for them is a good economy the early part of next year.

all signs point to that happening. i think that will be their case in terms of donald trump. he obviously bothers a lot of people in terms of not presidential behavior. they may not like the tweeting, the tone. we would like him to be more dignified or polite at times. but i think the message essentially from republicans is going to be you don't have to like him. look at the results. they're fantastic so far. david: how would that play? >> i think it is all about jobs. about realistic tangible results they can point to. i'm on campus all the time with campus reform, all the ideas they don't like trumpers in the things, they don't have tangible evidence why they dislike republicans and dislike trump. david: their dislike of donald trump doesn't blind them to what is happening with the economy? >> i don't think it is policy-based which is a good thing for republicans. you can change people's ideas with policies. if they are innately against you from a policy standpoint it is hard to convert them, but when

you see the ideas will help you, they will put up a personality they don't like. david: james on local level, we talk about how much the democrats have lost over past eight years. like a thousand races nationwide, when you include the local and state races?. there is a sea change going. i wonder if that continues? >> this whole year you see enthusiasm among democrats. what you haven't seen is a lot of fund-raising. you haven't seen all that many wins. yes, they did get the alabama senate seat. picked up virginia governorship and won seats in state legislatures. they were essentially shut out on special congressional elections. how that plays next year is big question. republicans are running on economic revival. you're looking at possibly our third straight quarter now of 3% or bert growth. looking at next year the u.s.

economy with finally a competitive tax system. i think republicans will run on that. they should have a good story to tell. david: cabot, anecdotes are dangerous but i will bring you an anecdote from something that happened during the holidays. i had a conversation with a nice young guy who was actually a war veteran. he was in iraq and he was very, some people call him conservative in his attitudes about the need for defense in this country, et cetera, but then it got to economics and he started to talk about how we need a little bit of socialism in this country in order to put things right. you hear this time and again from younger people that maybe don't have the personal experience that i did growing up and seeing what happens to a country once it goes socialist. there seems to be this naivete in terms of infusing a capitalist system with a little bit of socialism. >> it is easy to sell socialism. you her bernie sanders, when you hear the idea sounds nice and

fluffy. a poll said 52% of millenials believe socialist policies would help the nation. that comes from misinformation. david: college professors, a lot of it. >> it starts on college campuses where professors push idea that socialism will be savior of our economist. people don't understand what it means. they don't like where it has been implemented. that is where it starts. david: we're going with a topic that grabbing a lot of headlines a florida congressman, calling for a purge, his word, at the fbi as trump's feud with with the agency goes on. blake burman with this story. reporter: hi, david. over the holiday break he continues to express his dissatisfaction with the fbi, saying that the dossier compiled against him elsewhere was a pile of garbage that was used against the trump campaign dissatisfaction continues from republican members of congress.

one of then, republican congressman francis rooney, who said in interview, that leaders at fbi and justice department should take place in a purge. listen here. >> i would like to see the directors of those agencies purge it. we have a lot of great agents, great lawyers here. those are the who i want american people to see and doing good work and not those people in the deep state. reporter: he said that is not attempt to discredit the russia investigation. when specifically asked about the purge, he specifically cited, peter strzok we now know robert mueller decided to remove from the special counsel when strzok in 2016 was sending loads of anti-trump text messages. francis rooney will be on fox business later this afternoon in the 2:00 hour on "the intelligence report." david: look forward to that, blake. thank you very much. is all this distracting from good economic news coming in? "u.s. news & world report" contributor ashley pratte joins the panel now.

what do you think, ashley? is this taking away, kind of flutter that takes away what people are dealing with in their normal lives? >> i think the frustration here he is hitting a point which he has a strong legislative accomplishment to close out the year. after a year of people saying he has done nothing, he has no legislative accomplishments, there is gridlock in congress, all of this stuff, republicans don't like him, democrats don't like him, he has a strong economic message at the end. year. if the white house were to just stick to that and let pundits and whoever go out there on behalf of the administration to talk about this fbi stuff, let that happen but having the president come out and call something a pile of garbage seems to distract from the overall narrative here of strong economic messaging we were talking about earlier in the show. david: right. >> which i think really plays to young people, the never trump base as well as well as some democrats who could get on board working with him in a bipartisan fashion come the new year. david: even when he doesn't weigh in, he wasn't the one who

use the word purge. when you use the word purge in tandem what stalin did. frankly not the right word necessarily used talking about the fbi? >> no. and that send tirely true but i think if we're sticking to what the president is doing right now, he either need to condemn those types of words being used or he needs to not come out there say things like again, this dossier is a pile of garbage. he may think it is flawed or stick to consistent messaging focus on policy and economic agenda i am moving lives of americans moving forward and that will be the winning message at the end of the day. you don't want people taking messaging that he is flying off the handle, his erratic behavior is a problem and be focused on policy and narrative on his behavior and being more dignified as president. david: on the other hand, james, you can't ignore there is

something going at the fbi and going on during the course of the election campaign. we have word the fbi general counsel removed from that position by the way, james baker, he is the one who leaked the trump dossier who worked for david korn, "mother jones" a left-wing publication. that started the trump dossier in the news. add to him, andy mccabe, stepping down assistant fbi director. peter strzok, who ashley mentioned, bruce ohr, one of the top guys at justice whose wife worked for agency or group that put the trump dossier together. >> i think we talk about the president and i agree, he ought to have a positive message. i think as we said he has a good one to tell on the economy but based on what we know to this point, the dossier does look like a pile of garbage. david: and it does look like there was a group, whether you want to call a conspiracy, cabal, whatever, a group of people at justice and fbi who

were working together to promote it. >> you can pick whatever word you want to use, but mr. mueller chose to purge peter strzok based on clear bias in the text messages, not simply an employee holding a opinion which he is allowed to do but even suggesting in there he is acting on it in terms of an insurance policy, what did that mean? was this a plot to keep trump from becoming president? i think there are a lot of questions. another one, is it really so hard for a special counsel to assemble a great team of lawyers without hiring political axe-grinders who are activists for one party or another? maybe his answer is, look i had to hire people in a hurry and what do you find in washington? you find a lot of political hacks so that is what i went with. i don't think most people immediately understand why you can't find unbiased lawyers. david: i'm getting a wrap but,

ashley, i just have to ask, any truth to the rumor that mr. mueller is wrapping this thing up? >> i'm not entirely sure on that but i mean if he is, doesn't seem like much has been found in this case and it will be interesting to see what happens moving forward with it. david: ashley, thank you very much. democrats by the way, predicting a 2018 wave but donors might not be betting on that just yet. we'll explain. also the fda is under fire for its handling of food recalls. what the agency is accused of doing maybe in your medicine cabinet. you want to hear about this coming up. cannot live without it.

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david: i want to maersk a quick correction. james baker, general counsel for the fbi. we mentioned he was the source for david korn and "mother jones," he david korn is now denying he is the source. he is fellow i know. he is a social acquaintance, but david korn says he is not the source of the trump dossi a. want to clear that up. dnc has about $6.3 million cash on hand of december fist. while the rnc has nearly $40 million in the bank.

democratic strategist, robin biro, james phillips and james freeman. if you're doing so well, david, where is the money. >> david, i have an anecdotal story about this. david: please. >> a month ago i went to the dnc website, still listed donna brazile as interim chair. still listed barack obama as president. david: ouch! >> it's bad, it is really bad optics. i sent out a tweet saying i will not give a single red cent to them until they get it together. an associate director, jamie harrison called me about an hour later, promised they would get it together. i really think, i heard from many other democrats they are upset with the dnc about their lack of organization and i think that really is driving why we're getting a lack of donations. furthermore, i don't know if it is the same on republican side, but if you give a dollars to one of these guys, you get onslaught

of mail must have cost $25. david: that is terrific -- so often i give money to, i give big money to some groups and i give little money to other groups. it is the little money that i give results in a torrent of letters and phone calls, and all kinds of stuff. better if i didn't give anything. i want to ask you though, robin, the point is, donna brazile's book, democrats went after donna brazile said that is nonsense, she specifically focused on my any management of the dnc is one of biggest problems. you agree with that? >> i absolutely do. i'm hailing to you from atlanta, georgia. look at amount of money that was dumped into john osso's campaign depleted resources it was a critical problem with the dnkc and we lost that race. i don't know if it was a good idea but i don't think it's a

good idea to deplete the resources we had only $2.2 million once the race was lost. david: hillary clinton pointed to the problem, and this was at a dnc conference, technology conference where the dnc was involved, she said, i mean the dnc was bankrupt, on the verge of insolvency. it is data was mead objectioner so poor. non-existence. how do you turn it around? >> i am not sure. jamie harrison is cleaning things up but i'm still concerned. i really hopeful with tom perez and others we would get better traction with fund-raising. maxine waters has been out on the trail with her stump speech to try and drum up fund but i don't have a good, solid answer for that. i am glad however that the dccc and dscc are more financially solvent than the dnc i wish the dnc would get it together bet.

david: cabot, help out your fellow "politico." what would you suggest. >> maxine waters, will have to offer more than just give money to us because we're opposed to donald trump. it has to be here is what our party is about, not just against the other side. with regards to the fund-raiser numbers, that has to do with resentment with the dnc about the bernie sanders supporters. they saw a dnc that essentially rigged the primary to support hillary clinton and you can't expect those same people who supported bernie sanders to come back and then give share hard-earned money to an organization that rigged party. david: that is another thing that donna brazile talked about in her book. >> you better believe it and it's true. it is visceral. i feel it. i'm political director here for the local party. i have worked tirelessly to try to bridge of divide. we're still not there yet. we have problems internally that we're trying to work on. so cabot brought up a great

point, i do agree with him. david: james, let's face it, the republicans will be pretty flush after the tax cuts, at least republicans in the corporate community. i think their covers will do nothing but increase, right? >> well certainly they, you have an excited republican base here but i don't think they should be celebrating because the story for much of this year was democrats have this intangible enthusiasm but they don't have money or votes. i keep coming back though, what changed is that virginia governor's race and state legislative races there. david: that's true. >> virginia is not the whole country, maybe it's a unique case. if you're republican, no matter how poorly the dnc is run, no matter how badly it is raising money, you have to be concerned with the enthusiasm and turnout. the democrats got their left-wing base to turn out even though it wasn't a particularly left-wing candidate. it was kind of a moderate, you might even say conservative democrat. david: money doesn't always translate into victories. so, robin, there's hope.

>> there is hope. i am still hopeful. i just want the dnc to get a little bit more organized. we might get there, understood. robin, thank you so much for coming in. appreciate it. good to see you. coming up 98% of isis has been wiped out but is the battle really over? will it move to a new front? we'll tell you where that is coming up. [lance] monica, it is absolute chaos out here!

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david: of course stocks are heading into 2018 near record highs. so market watcher scott martin how long this rally can keep on going. scott, i'm having a lot of fun reading year-end apologies by market analysts explaining why the correction they predicted was coming never came. i don't recall you ever having said there was a correction coming. did you? >> i didn't, david. i did think there was more volatility because of all the

rumblings going on in congress but my goodness, this market, as you said, just kept on chugging but i'll tell you what, we'll get into january where there may be tax selling with respect to the new year. economic data points that will be interesting. don't forget we have a new fed chairman coming in february, david. there are events coming up the market may take with a little bit of a cautious eye. david: i do a show with steve forbes, "forbes on fox," he rarely if ever gives stock tips. he did so last saturday. i asked him out of the blue, do you have any stock tips for the folks out there. he says he still thinks the tech sector still has room to grow. do you? >> i do. look at earnings power in the s&p 500, my friend, it is all in tech. tech will be leader again in 2018, but what is also interesting look at the interest rate picture. the fed is set maybe to do three, four hikes in 2018. look at banks too, david. they have been left behind in previous years, especially as

the expansion gotten going. banks are starting to catch up. i think they will also lead next year. david: there is question what you buy. i haven't bought a single -- i think the last single stock, i bought -- not bragging here, fedex back it was very low. i made money. i didn't sell it at its highest point. when i buy stocks it is in a fund, spdr fund, spy fund or whatever. what fund do you think people should buy, if they're into say tech? >> yeah. we talked about tech there. there's a couple. xlk is one we own and we like, spdr sector trust, has all the technology companies in there and we talked about financials too. xlf is another financial etf that has a lot of major banks in there. you made a good point. with some of the indexes you don't have to pick one or two companies doing well, you benefit from the whole sector doing well and that is a good way to play 2018. david: there is one stock, i don't know if you can call it a

stock but bitcoin getting a lot of attention these days. warren buffett calls it famously fomo, stock, fear of missing out. do you think it is that? >> david, bitcoin is a little bit of a right now. i believe in crypto currencies. use risk capital only and be ready to pull the trigger around get out when things get a little dicey. david: you hear these extraordinary sources, yesterday we had a guy on bought bitcoin less than a dollar, as far as i know he was not ising at all. told it half a day, keep having it and keep it but cabot you have a terrific anecdote about somebody bought bitcoin in college. >> he was involved in bitcoin mining. >> what do you mean bitcoin mining? >> basically running a program that will create block chains,

things like that so you can gather itself. he had all the bitcoins. kept raving about it years ago to all friends. david: wasn't he caught by the school, that mining requires tremendous energy, energy surge. >> he was doing it in the dorm room. administration came in, someone is using all the power, we'll find out. he snuck in the science room and set up computers, 24/7. last week pulled out 18,000. is a millionaire. paid off his parents mortgage. did good things with it. david: good man! >> thinking about starting my own cryptocurrency. seems like they're selling incredibly high. david: james, are you in, james? >> i'm not a buyer. i like the technology. i think it has a lot of promising possibilities but, these valuations lately on bitcoin i don't see how you justify them. getting around mastercard and visa to avoid the fees that's

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david: good news. isis is on the run. u.s. military saying the terror group lost 98% of territory it once held. half the losses coming since president trump took office. lieutenant colonel michael walsh now. critics of previous president say that the obama administration was so overmanaging, micromanaging if you will the war, that actually prolonged the point we're at now. is there any truth to that? >> i think there is absolutely truth to that in the sense that the obama administration put the strategy in place but then they essentially hamstrung our forces

on the ground through overly restrictive roe, through forcing -- david: roe, meaning rules of engagement. forgive me. >> that's right, rules of engagement. forcing pilots mother may i back to washington before doing anything tactically. keeping our advisors more of headquarters level rather than doing what president trump has done, push them down to the tactical level where they have more of an impact and also help call in those truly effective airstrikes only our air force can do. david: i don't have a representative of the obama administration here right now but i would imagine that one thing they would say, yes we had strict rules of engagement because isis tended to surround itself with civilians, and perhaps more collateral damage, more civilian deaths. what would you say? >> irony here is i'm still in touch with a number of soldiers on the ground and the irony for every isis fighter that they let go out out of a concern for potential civilian casualties it, was almost guaranteed that

those isis fight is would go on and massacre everyone from the yazidis to arab christians and to anyone else they opposed. so i at this when, historians peel back what has happened on the ground it will be a humanitarian disaster and a genocide we haven't seen in modern times since world war ii. david: just awful. has depriving isis of its safe havens, it is physical capital if you will does that make them less dangerous? i imagine it makes them less dangerous because they don't have a place from which to plan their strategy, right? >> right. i think the answer there mixed. the islamic state and president trump is correct in this in that the islamic state is defeated as a state. what is is not yet defeated as is a movement and that movement will persist, that islamist extremist ideology, that infected so many societies is still there. isis, whether it is isis, whether it is al qaeda, whether

it is taliban will now be franchised. we're seeing them move in in increasing numbers in north africa. we had the ambush of green berets in niger. they're taking advantage of the failed state that is libya and all the gadhafi arms there. so on one hand they are defeated as a state. that deprives them the ability to organize, to recruit, to truly plot and plan attacks to the west. that what we've seen all over europe and the united states. but on the other hand we have to keep, we have to keep focused on a long-term strategy that is going to undermine this ideology, just like we undermined ideology of communism over time. david: continuing with the business theme if you will, the isis brand, as you suggest has spread around the world. however it is easier to sell a brand like that, i think of the cuban brand, the communist cuban brand which was popular in the '60s and 70's in the united

states and europe all over as well, when you have a place you can refer to or allende's chile, whatever it happens to be, easier to sell the radical brand than if you don't have a place. i'm thinking from that perspective for the world that isis has been deprived of this base. >> it is absolutely better, don't get me wrong. we're in the better place with defeat of the islamic state. part of that brand is having a leader. al-baghdadi, the leader of isis dare not show his face. david: where is he, by the way? >> i think he is still isolated in that small pocket on the euphrates river, i hope, i hope we go in and get him very soon because that him staying alive still furthers the isis brand but what we saw what happened with osama bin laden. we saw what happened with several leaders of the taliban. we have to keep up the counterterrorism piece. but the other hand, reason like communist groups like shining path in peru, groups from cuba,

red brigades in italy, remember them, they can't recruit under the brand of communism because it has been discredited and defeated. that is the long-term play, how over the next few generations do we undermine and defeat and chris credit this brand of islamic extremism. i think president trump's trip to saudi arabia where he put the onus on moderate islamic governments to basically say, you have to solve this from the inside. there is only so much the united states and west can do. this is idealogical fight. you have to rest control of the islamic religion and that narrative. whether that is the u.a.e., saudi arabia or friends in oman and jordan that is truly where i think victory will come from over the brand. david: very good point that was his first trip, after all. seemed to be pretty successful in saudi arabia. colonel waltz thanks for being here. appreciate it. >> thank you so much.

david: could we see a tesla pickup truck. elon musk is hinting on twitter. gerri willis is at the new york stock exchange where there are questions about tesla. go ahead, gerri. >> elon musk saying this in a tweet, i promise, i promise we will make a pickup truck after the model y. had the core design and engineering elements in my mind for almost five years. i'm dying, dying to build it. well, that is the end of the tweet. i have to say you may have to wait for that truck, yes. elon musk, he wants to challenge the f-series from ford but will he be able to do it? here is with we're seeing. that model y is a crossover, electric crossover that isn't due until 2019. the company is having a really difficult time making enough model 3s. keybanc analysts are lowering the fourth quarter estimates for elon musk's company, tesla. why? because the deliveries on the model 3 are so very slow. they expected 15,000.

they're getting 5000. they're disappointed. the stock is trading lower today. i have to tell you, david, when you look at the market cap of this company it is still bigger than ford, still bigger than gm. the company is actually doing very, very well, despite all these promises out there, well, may or may not come to fruition. david? david: the promises are very big, very hard to fulfill those promises. gerri, great to see you, thank you very much. >> good to see you. david: the coach for the san antonio spurs is spurring outrage over what he just said about the rich. we'll tell you his comments coming next. a new warning over food recalls. you can't afford to miss. stay with us.

david: new report revealing the nation's food recall process is dangerously slow. fbn's hillary vaughn has all the details. hi, hillary. reporter: hey, david. when you go to the grocery store you kind of trust what you're putting in your cart and taking home is safe to eat but a new inspector general report reveals food that is contaminated and potentially deadly is sitting on store shelves in some cases for months before recalls are issued. the report says that the recall process for 80% of america's food isn't moving fast enough and putting people at risk.

sometimes it can take up to 10 months for stores to stop selling food that's making people sick. they took a look at 30 recall cases that were class one and two, which means the products would either make you seriously ill or possibly kill you if you ate it. on average it took 57 days for recalls to start. in one case salmonella was found in nut butter. it took 165 days for the recall to be issued. 14 people got sick in eleven ven states. in same yearlies tear yaw found in cheese products. almost three months were passed before deadly consequences. one infant died and two pregnant women lost unborn children. how does that happen? one contributing factor reviewed in the report show as serious breakdown in communication between the fda and individual companies and that is a big problem because the fda relies on these companies to voluntarily report issues and then issue recalls for their products. so that can lead to a major lag

time between when the recall is issue and how long it takes to pull these products from their shelves. now the fda commissioner says reforms are in the works following this report. one big change coming could hold companies more accountable. the fda is considering releasing names of stores that are selling recalled items which they don't currently do, david. david: that would be interesting, shame them into doing the right thing. we'll see how that works out. hillary, thank you very much. great stuff. san antonio spurs coach gregg popovich saying rich people should give to charity because i'm quoting him, we don't need it all, and other people need it. you're an a, you know what, if you don't give it. america's top 1% donate a third of the world's charitable givings. james freeman and cabot phillips. shock, a rich american says that it is a good thing to donate money but in fact americans have been doing that for years, for centuries. >> the u.s. is really the world

champion of charitable giving. the leading source of donations to charities around the world. and what you see is that, that's related to the fact that we have a wealthy, prosperous economy. that's where ultimately charity has to come from is first creating a -- david: the way the press, the way the press is painting this, as if it is something shockingly new he is saying this when in fact it is what americans have always been doing. >> this is a season where it is great to urge everybody to think of others. david: that's true. no harm in that. >> probably some people will say who is coach pop to tell me what to do with my money? perhaps there will be some calls for disclosure. he may be very generous, i don't know, some people may resent it, regardless. david: cabot, americans, as james says outdonate brits and canadians two to one and italians and germanses 20 to 1.

the fact a lot of europeans and elsewhere in the world, spend so much in taxes. may not be income tax but may be value-added tax, they figure the government will do it, why should i? >> absolutely. makes you wonder the religious ties that has with united states far more religious countries than other countries in europe. i'll torn on this one. part of me looked what coach popovich said, it is annoying certainly, telling other rich people how to spend your money and you're horrible person. by the same token he has put his money where his mouth is. he gave hundred of thousands of dollars and started good initiatives. he is beloved, says things, he is beloved character. his heart in the right place. i think he is saying things intentionally offensive. david: not like the billionaires complaining about giving enough in taxes but don't write a check to the u.s. government for more. >> i'm guessing he lives pretty well.

i could be wrong. david: sure. >> if the spirit is to say, everyone should look out for others and look for opportunities to help, then great. if coach pop will be the moral arbiter, there will be more questions about exactly what he is doing with all his money. david: gentlemen, breaking news. officials confirmed to fox news that the trump administration is considering an executive order that would make it easier to buy a cheaper health care plan without obamacare mandates. james, what kind of fuss do you think this will cause? >> a really good fuss. this is one of the central falsehoods, let's not call it a lie. maybe president obama didn't know how far the plan would deviate from what he promised but we were promised cost containment. we were promised affordability. we didn't get it. this is one of the reasons we need reform and if it's a signal that the trump administration is going to push as far as they can administratively to lower costs

for consumers to allow us more choice, maybe to allow states to try different things and give us more affordable packages, is really good news. david: by the way, cabot, the fact that the individual mandate is now gone as a result of the tax plan or it will be after the first of the year, did you know people, particularly young people like yourself, who figured i don't need a health insurance, who were willing to pay the fine instead of buying into obamacare? >> i absolutely did. i had a lot of friend say i'm going to doctor once or twice a year. is it worth to subsidize rates for older people going more often. i will take the penalty. it is important to point out you district the aunt counties there is only one provider. it is good to open up the market to give opportunities to as many people as possible. we know the promise of affordable health care and keeping your doctor if you want it ended up not to be true. you will never hear a complaint opening up market. david: james we got rid of

individual mandate, small businesses, businesses with more than 50 employees are still stuck. they still have the business mandate, right? >> you may see some legislative, excuse me, i should say more administrative action to try to relief that burden. i'm kind of skeptical that they can get anymore through congress this next year. i know the president is hoping to go further. i think we ought to take a moment to appreciate what just happened. elimination of that individual mandate is huge. this is the beginning towards moving back toward a real market where you have ken -- consumer choices as driver rather than government dictates. david: it gets back, to that question of coercion of government. which is more important the welfare of everybody which actually goes pretty much unfulfilled when the government promises welfare for everybody or the fact that you're forced by government to do something that you may not want to do? >> that was the big supreme court case. is it constitutional to force people to do this. that is a huge blow to the obama

legacy. that was a huge victory they counted. this effectively erased in president trump's first year. david: the most effective argument, james. we all know it is healthy to eat broccoli. a lot of people hate broccoli. the first president george bush hated broccoli. what would happen if we forced people to do things to be healthy they really didn't want to do? actually an example of that was buying insurance they felt they didn't need. >> i'm hoping this is also a sign that washington has really turned where we, it has been frustrating watching last year where people are still accepting the obama premise, which we'll define health care success by how many people are enrolled in government programs. that is not the measure. it doesn't guarranty you will be healthy the fact you're spending lots of money on government programs. it doesn't guarranty good patient care that people are enrolled in a federal program. so this is actually addressing what people care about. quality of service and cost and latter in particular.

david: very quickly, young people as i remember from long ago don't like to be told what to do. isn't that argument, if you're looking for argument on the libertarian side in order to get millenials over to that side, isn't that a good argument? >> absolutely. there is a lot of misinformation about obamacare. a lot of young people didn't realize how it would affect them. health care for all. human right. this is food. let's pass this they realized i have to pay into the plan. wait a second. what is going on here. david: cabot, james, wonderful to have you for a whole hour. i feel fortunate and blessed. the economy gaining momentum. how much credit should president trump be getting for that. more on that to come.

david: welcome back, everybody, i'm david asmand in for neil cavuto. very busy hour ahead. mastercard reporting a record -- see that blinking? $800billion. that was the shopping spree that was spent this holiday season. this as stocks continue their record run. so how much credit should president trump be getting for this boom? to new york city council joe and radio show host ben. joe, does president trump deserve any of the credit for this? >> yeah. i mean, of course. economic indicators mean something. and whenever we're looking at, whether it be the dow, whether it be gdp, whether it be, you know, relatively obscure things like the philly fed index. every indicator seems to take a huge, huge pivot in the

right direction starting on november 8th, 2016. you know, if not for president trump, what else is there? this is real money in people's pockets. this is real money in people's savings accounts, real money in people's retirement accounts and money that people can use to buy johnny that extra bike or toaster. david: president obama was not a businessman. president trump is a businessman, and he has filled a lot of his cabinet positions and sub cabinet positions with business people. that seems to make a difference pulling regulations that they know will be harmful for business, no? >> well, obama came into office with a recession. he had a lot of work to do. david: he did, indeed. >> of course, as presidents get the blame, they should also receive some credit for economic conditions, specifically in this case improving. however, you know, for a fact donald trump will -- i mean, he would claim that he helped the sunrise in the morning if it was a beautiful day. >> i think he has. >> i think that he has. so he will take quite a bit of

credit. how much credit is actually due? that's another conversation. but, of course, numbers are beneficial to him going forward, especially as they push infrastructure. david: and there's something you can't deny, which is president obama created more regulations, whereas president trump is removing regulations and businesses like that. >> they do like that. we'll see what the long-term affects of that are and, of course, we will have that data going forward, and we'll see if the impacts on the midterms in 2018 or 2020 for the presidential election. we'll figure it all out. >> you're right, david. there's a clear change in direction from when president trump took office from where president obama went. even the tax cuts and the regulations. if we want to talk about things that obama did right, that's another episode. probably a short one. but there's one thing we cannot die. president trump's impact on the economy has been nothing but positive. but people who are trying to give president obama credit for this are the same people that are saying president obama actually defeated isis and it wasn't president trump.

>> well,. david: what can you point to that hasn't been positive? because i'm sure you can think of something. >> when it comes to donald trump and the economy? well, is this trickling down to main street americans? is this helping people in the rust belt, michigan, folks in wisconsin who went for donald trump. we haven't seen that yet. middle class families are still struggling in this country. david: you say still struggling. >> they are still struggling as they were in the obama administration. >> sure. times have not been good for a lot of people for a long time. and we can't get, you know, too hyper political when it comes to all of that. david: but didn't the fact that things were the improved changed. >> it was a makeup for the economy, again, with the recession, obama taking over during that situation. a much different time. really, trump was able to hit the ground running. >> this is where the evidence that we just found out about consumer spending over the holidays actually plays in and

gives evidence against what ben is saying. these are people who have extra money to spend this holiday season because of the growing economy, because we've seen more than 3% economic growth, because we have more money in our accounts. this is the real result. david: sometimes people just do it on credit. >> well, sure. but these are the real results. people are willing to spend the extra dollar on things they really want because they have confidence in the things. david: but it is time for a second act. i mean, we have seen -- i think this year has been the first act of the trump presidency. and it ended on a very high note and a note where he passed the tax thing or the tax bill has been passed. so what does he do for act two? >> well, i think, you know, the first thing was set in motion within this tax cut, the repeal of the obamacare individual mandate. that is going to cause some changes that have to occur in the next year. david: and, by the way, you saw the breaking news. and, in fact, they may be pulling back the mandates for obamacare and allowing more individual plans that don't have those mandates. so you could probably get cheaper plans now.

>> well, right. but even when it comes to government spending, you know, there was always this talk from republicans in the beginning of the term that we had to pass the obamacare repeal in order to see the savings that we could then use for the tax cuts. that hasn't changed. that still has to happen. and the fact that the individual mandate was repealed is probably going to be the impetuous that forces republicans back. >> older officials, many of them who voted for president trump will have a outcome. many of them who pulled out of health care all together is really predicated. healthy individuals that are going through. david: you're talking about older individuals to supplement their medicare or what. >> absolutely. and once those numbers start coming in, we're going to start -- david: what happens if by february people do see that their paycheck has grown. maybe it's just a little. maybe it's just $40 a week. but as i mentioned yesterday, 40 bucks a week to a single mother who i was having dinner with on friday, she said that's a bag of groceries a week. that's important for me. >> absolutely. and there is an elitism on of

the left oftentimes they'll say $1,000 bonus. who cares. that's a significant amount of money for a huge portion of our population. and i think people will see that and if the republican party is able to push forward things such as infrastructure and going forward in 2018 getting any bipartisan support whatever -- whatsoever from the democrats, perhaps they can hold onto the house and the senate in 2018 in the midterms. but if not, that's a whole 'nother story. david: what do you think is going to happen? >> i think there is so much anger at this president, so much divisiveness in this country, as we saw in alabama and new jersey and virginia. i think there might be a wave coming for the democratic party. >> i think because of what you said, because this extra money is going to be in people's pockets, the democrats are going to face a real credibility problem. david: well, ben actually said that if the money's there. >> when it actually hits, the democrats who have been saying for the past three or four months that this is not going to affect you, this only affects the rich, they're going to be confronted with the reality that a lot of americans are really happy

about what their paycheck looks like come the end of february. david: guys, i love this discussion. but we want to move on for a second while shoppers are spending a major spending battle looming over dc, how much longer can congress kick the can down the road on our debt? to social security works executive director alex lawson. alex, you know, the only that thing congress can appear to agree on is spending more of our money. and apparently the next thing that they're going to do that on is this infrastructure program. how much is that going to explode our debt more than it already has? >> look, i don't think that there's an infrastructure program coming. david: really? >> i think the fantasy that people are thinking that somehow after the disastrous first year of the trump administration that somehow there's these accomplishments that he has racked up or he has built goodwill so that there could be a bipartisan working on anything. it's just not there. he has actively antagonized

the democratic party time and time and time again. david: but even if the democratic party think so that some of these programs need to be done, they would be willing to put their animosity towards donald trump ahead of the needs of the country? >> no. but the republicans in congress certainly will. so we know exactly what's coming, which is a tax on medicare/medicaid, and then social security. david: but we just heard paul ryan lose that argument. paul ryan wanted to do that. it's true. he wanted to change entitlements. but mitch mcconnell said no. infrastructure is going to come first. and the president and mitch mcconnell first trump paul ryan. i don't think he's going to win that battle, do you? >> well, you have to take into the fact that the house republicans are almost certainly going to lose their majority and so mcconnell will want to protect the majority somewhat, and you have heritage action and tee party network around the country demanding the focus on cutting

social security, medicare, and medicaid. reaching into our pockets. david: but, alex, they said that they're going to put infrastructure -- you just absolutely refuse to believe they're going to try infrastructure first? >> well, i would make a wager with you. david: okay. i like wagers. i just won one from bill hemmer, by the way. i won 10 bucks that they pass taxes by the end of the year. be careful. i'll bet a dinner in new york. okay. go ahead. what's the bet? >> that mcconnell is going to give some -- he's going to say some things about infrastructure. but it's not going to move at all. in fact, nothing's going to move in this congress this year and in an election year with the president's unfavorable so high. david: that bet i wouldn't be willing to take because you may be right on that. but i'm still willing to bet that mcconnell and president trump are going to win out the debate over paul ryan in putting infrastructure first. let me just get the opinion of our guest here. what do you think? do you think that

infrastructure will try to be put first ahead of entitlement reform? >> yeah. look, i don't know what alex is talking about. paul ryan wants to move ahead on things like medicare or social security. but it takes three to tango. and when you have the president coming out really firmly saying we're not going to touch those things right now, when you have mitch mcconnell has the has a pilot politically rally that he couldn't get the votes to pass those things even if he wanted to, the recipe is there for infrastructure first and then probably after the midterms if there's still a will to do that, then you see changes to medicare. >> i mean, he's going to need to get some democratic support if he wants to pass infrastructure at this point again with the midterms right around the corner. i think they're playing the resist game and i think there's a lot of political capital behind that movement. and i just don't see them going onboard. maybe joe manchin west virginia something like that. david: the debt doubled under president obama as you well know. the only thing that was growing was the size of

government and now democrats want to complain about the debt growing too much. i mean, doesn't there seem to be a little hypocrisy there to you? >> here's what i know. the debt and deficit only matter to republicans when democrats have power. or when they want to steal our social security or medicare. so since they're going to come after our social security and medicare this year, they're going to start talking about the $1.5 trillion that they just added to the did he of sit with the president's tax scam. so i think what we're looking at right here -- david: i take it you don't like the president's tax plan. >> i don't like the tax scam. david: i guessed that. we're almost out of time. the people's no. projects. i'm very wary of the public infrastructure. i see guys working on the side of the street and taking their time whenever it's a public project. the only public project i ever saw was an ice rink in central park, which was going on for five years always overbudget.

never finishing on time. and the mayor finally put it in the hands of somebody in the private sector, and it was done in six months under budget, and you know who that was like. >> donald trump. congratulations on that. and i have to say infrastructure is very serious. my friends one of the cars he just passed over the bridge in minneapolis right after it -- right before it collapsed, rather. this stuff is very significant. david: it is. >> and if an ice rink is his current big claim to fame, he's going to do a lot better than that. david: a lot of public locales can claim. gentlemen, thank you very much. coming up, ambassador john bolton is next on new fears of the possible north korean biological weapons program. what could be next? stay tuned.

david: north korean soldier who they found immunity in him to anthrax, and that's raising concerns and possible biological weapon plans for north korea to former ambassador to un john bolton. john, just when you thought they couldn't get any more despicable. now ther there are these signs that they are into biological weapons. what do you think? >> well, i think they can get

a lot more despicable. but the concern about biological and i might say chemical weapons in north korea's possession has been around for some time. we've had i think unmistakable evidence on the chemical weapon side and any fear that the artillery north of the demilitarized zone actually has a component of chemical weapon shells. but will biological weapons, look, it's not by accident that chem and bio are called the poor man's nuclear weapons. had both of these before got far along on the nuclear side. so that threat has been there, and it doesn't surprise me because it's the same sort of approach that we saw in iraq, iran, and libya. these are things that authoritarian states do. so fresh evidence, if that's what this turns out to be of a north korean biological warfare capability shouldn't surprise us.

>> john, we were told china was the last hope. it appears that we got them to do -- got china to do exactly that. they haven't imported any coal. they haven't exported or at least they say they haven't. i just don't think the economic cuisse squeeze is going to work, do you? >> no. and china is lying here. we have evidence in the past few days of the south korea newspaper using pictures that our own treasury department published that people didn't pay enough attention to of ship to ship oil transfers in what the chinese call the el sea and the west sea confronted with this the spokeswoman for the chinese foreign ministry said, well, were those ships specifically listed in the security council sanctions? because if they weren't

specifically listed, maybe they're not covered. now, i think china has been playing the united states on north korea in a variety of ways for 25 years. but this would be real proof of deceit. >> well, the point -- we also have russia, by the way. we just got this readout from the state department, secretary tillerson just met with foreign minister of russia sergey, and i'm quoting here both sides agree that they will continue to work towards a diplomatic solution to achieve a denuclearization of the korean peninsula. now, even the south koreans who are hopely of some kind said the north is never going to give up its nukes. so i'm just wondering. colonel ralph peters office yesterday. he suggested, in fact, there's going to be some kind of military confrontation in the coming year. do you agree? >> well, i think we're going to come down to a binary

choice and that's use of force is a possibility to destroy north korea's ballistic missile capabilities. or we allow north korea to have nuclear weapons. david: because they're not going to give it away, no matter what pressure we apply diplomatically. >> right or in terms of economic sanctions. zero chance that after 25 years of pressure this close to the finish line they're going to give it up? it's not going to happen. >> all right. ambassador, the trump administration cutting funding for the un after the jerusalem resolution vote. could this just be the first in a series? >> well, that cut was baked in the cake before the jerusalem vote. but it provides an excellent pivot for the trump administration. i've tried to help out by writing an op-ed in the wall street journal yesterday talking about why we need to go to voluntary contributions. we've tried reforming the un in a 1,000 ways in the past 30 or 40 years. everyone has come up short. i think changing the funding approach would be like a

tsunami through the un system. zeroing out programs, withdrawing from programs that don't work. that don't produce anything that actually helps people around the world. if we did that, it would have an enormous impact. but it the president's own decision to do it. david: how do you think ambassador haley is doing? >> well, i give her an a-plus. she's had the advantage of a president who is really determined to upset the conventional wisdom and foreign policy. she's remarkable in a historical sense. she has basically no supervision from the state department, he said enviously. david: hold on a second. you're not going to let that pass. so the state department held you back at times? >> yeah. you could say that way. >> put it clearly. go ahead. >> i always followed my instructions from the state

department. i truly did. nikki haley doesn't get instructions. david: what did you want to do that the state department wouldn't let you do? >> well, i would love to have advance toward voluntarily contributions. i think what the president and nikki haley had been saying is absolutely right. it's rare when the united states has a tension to its position unless it puts money on the line. and that's what they have promised with respect to the un after the jerusalem vote. i think it will get people's attention, you know, in octa for the second time the united states has withdrawn. so i think the threat of withdrawal or defunding in whole or in part is a very real threat. i think it's an act for the general assembly to take these jerusalem votes, and i think the president having drawn the line now has to act on it. david: why not just move the un to some place that the

delegates don't want to be? they're always talking about how they connect more with the third world than the first world. put the un in the third world some place. >> well, i guess that makes me a partisan of new york. i want all of these foreign diplomats to spend their money on 5th avenue and boost the economy, and it goes without saying pay their parking tickets. david: absolutely. we're all jealous of that. john, thank you very much. ambassador john bolton. >> happy new year. david: happy new year to you. democrats are pushing back, and that could cost them. also, coming up an important update on the border wall. where does the funding go from here?

david: well, the white house set up for a big infrastructure spending push in january. they're anticipating democrats will get onboard. but a new report by politico revealing new york city mayor bill de blasio says he's considering reducing infrastructure cash as an act

of defiance. would that backfire on democrats, not to mention on the mayor himself? to former nevada state gop chair amy, new york city council, and radio show host ben are here as well. so, amy, we should mention first off, your husband's running if i'm not mistaken in the nevada primary coming up. what is he selling? is he selling infrastructure as something voters might be in favor of voting for? >> i don't see how anyone would want to turn down funding for infrastructure, you know? you've got mayor de blasio who obviously has quite the ego. you know, he -- in the past, he attacked hillary clinton in his own party. he has attacked president trump. he has actually had the new york police department turn their backs on him not once but twice. this man takes off for a g20 summit in germany when she's supposed to be taking care of

a situation in his own city. this man obviously is feeling a little bit left out on the conversation, likes to have it all about him, and his ego is out of control. david: and yet, joe, the fact is that you're on the opposite end of the party. you like the guy. you think he's a pleasant guy to deal with. over 60% of new yorkers while they complain about the subways and complain about the homeless problem and complain about a lot of things that the mayor should be taking care of, more than 60% of new yorkers voted for the guy. >> it's bizarre. bizarre is the only word because you can't have it both ways. you can't in half of the year be criticizing the trump administration to be threatening to take away funding because they're not complying with law and then in the same year say you're not going to take federal funding gun unhappy with the trump administration doing other things. it's just bizarre. i would rather the mayor of new york say i don't like president trump.

you may not like president trump. but darn it, we're going to take some of the money and fix the subways that are awful in new york city. david: ben, i don't understand why so many democrats apparently don't like mayor de blasio because this big political article that's titled what's bill de blasio's problem and they're meeting there with the democratic party. why is that? he won over 60% of the vote. he has all of these policies that the democrats complained to put on the burner now. why is he popular with democrats? >> well, he's reminded between elizabeth warren and bernie sanders and establishment types like hillary clinton. obviously, he got his break. he through hillary clinton, and it took him a long time to endorse her, he was very tepid in the endorsement. so his progressive populism, that message isn't what the mainstream democratic party is clinging onto right now and quite frankly, they probably want to see his rhetoric silenced more than megaphone.

david: amy, it comes down to the same thing. whether policy trump's character and in this case donald trump. do you think that's going to happen? now that we have a new tax law that is apparently already getting businesses to see how they're going to be expanding, which means more jobs and maybe higher salaries, et cetera. will the policies of trump sort of overwhelm the dislike of trump by a lot of republicans? >> well, the mayor should be removed from office if he's not going to actually put the 8 million plus people at the top of his priority list, despite maybe having a personality opposition to the president. he needs to learn how to get over that. he should know how to work across party aisles. he should know how to work with others who he may not view as positive in his book. but the policies are what's important.

not the personality. david: in the republican party, amy, do you think the policies that we now will see come to fruition or not in 2018 any antagonism for him by republicans? >> i do. especially with this tax bill being passed. people are going to see in their paychecks as time goes on that they're going to end up having more money to spend with their family, and i think that they're going to be very pleased. now, of course, it's not going to be immediate. but, yes, i don't see how democrats can go along and say, hey, look, we're going to campaign against just a personality when there's actual policy being implemented and in a positive fashion. david: by the way, we have to go, but i have to ask ben quickly. would de blasio really refuse infrastructure money? >> i think it's a lot of rhetoric, and i think it's unfortunate because the people in the crosshairs are you and i. he's going to be justifying. david: gentlemen, thank you very much. amy, good to see you.

thank you for being here. well, getting the green light to bring their big cash files back from overseas. but when will this happen and how? the answer is coming next retail under pressure like never before. and it's connected technology that's moving companies forward fast. e-commerce. real time inventory. virtual changing rooms. that's why retailers rely on comcast business to deliver consistent network speed across multiple locations. every corporate office, warehouse and store near or far covered. leaving every competitor, threat and challenge outmaneuvered. comcast business outmaneuver.

>> hi, i'm gerri willis at the new york stock exchange. all eyes on fedex and ups. both of these companies announcing just moments ago that they had the biggest holiday shipping year ever. they're doing very good, indeed. so here's what we know because they didn't give us a lot of details. no numbers, no analysis directly from the company. but online sales up 18.1%. that's according to mastercard spending. 18.1% gain between november 1st and december 24th. and guess what? if you have higher sales, you also have higher returns. returns expected to jump 15%. 800billion in total sales. that's according to mastercard. big numbers, and we'll wait

for more details from fedex. back to you. david: gerri willis, thank you very much. meanwhile, with tax reform signed, when there will companies bring that overseas money back home? it must be a trillion dollars overseas; right? by just the tech companies alone. 300billion with. it's buttrill, isn't it? >> it's a half a trillion just for the top five companies out there. so a large sum of money that this new tax plan will, you know -- could bring back into the united states with all the benefits included. david: now, some of it is stuck in hard form. like real estate and stuff. so when it comes to the actual cash, how much are we talking about? >> well, like i said for the top five, you're looking at a half a trillion dollars just in liquid cash. david: just in liquid. wow. >> yeah. coming over. and so there's three real things that people are talking

about. second is new hires and new facilities and the third is, you know, dividends and stock buy backs. and my money's on the third, and i think several analysts are saying the same. though, you'll hear ceos really emphasize new facilities as well. david: chuck schumer put together a list of companies that had in the december alone in anticipation of that bought back stocks. and it is unusually large for december. so you had to imagine that will be a large parth. but do you think it will be most of it? most of the money coming back will immediately go into stock buy backs? >> that's the overwhelming sentiment right now, and that's what i think is going to happen. there will be some small m& a happen or increased m& a happening because of this cash coming back. but if you're looking at even what some of these ceos have said on the record and making

big promises about dividends and buy backs to their investors, i wouldn't be surprised if a majority is spent right there. >> there's another thing that's happening, though, which is a lot of mergers and acquisitions are taking place now. they see the environment, the regulatory environment is easing up on that kind of activity. so maybe they'll use the cash to buy companies, not just expand their own company. >> there are several companies in the startup world and bigger companies increased m& a environment. so we'll see that some of the bigger companies, apple increasing their artificial intelligence capabilities. we have oracle looking at they did eight investments or acquisitions this year, looking to do more next year. that environment will continue to be a hot one. >> great to see you. thank you very much for being here. happy new year. >> happy new year. david: meanwhile, the tax code

avoidance schemes will be rampant. dan, we didn't get rid of a lot of loopholes. of course, the famous one is carried interest. but there's this article that i read about conservation easements. this is a interesting way for the rich to pay the tax man. are you familiar with that? >> yes. the tax code is still riddled with things like that. the energy is still there. the conservation stuff is is it i will there. not to mention big things like municipal bond, health care exclusion. there's still a long way to go if we want a better tax system. david: i'm going to try to put this in a nutshell what this conservation easement is. you take a worthless piece of land, you find some appraiser who may not be totally on the up-and-up, you get him to up the value maybe ten fold or something like that, and you get a lot of investors buy this worthless piece of land that suddenly becomes ten

times what it should be, and they get to claim a $4 deduction for every dollar that they put in. so it's a scheme that turns something without any value into value only insofar as it's a tax deduction. it seems like a terrible waste of energy and a waste of capital, no? >> that's the problem with loopholes in the tax code. the government in effect is bribing people to make economically senseless decisions simply because individuals understandably want to protect their income from government. so if we get rid of the loopholes at the same time, we lower the tax rates. i mean, that's the basic principle of a flat tax. we can actually get these investors and entrepreneurs instead of playing games with the tax system, let's get them they can said on, well, what's the best thing to grow the economy? . >> and if you believe in capitalism, the wise use of capitalism instead of buying a worthless piece of land for it is to put it into a company where you can higher people and give people salaries. i mean, there is a very

productive capitalism. but the fact that you have loopholes just proves the taxes are too high. people would rather spend the time and energy and money in some avoidance scheme that would be much better put into capital than the private sector. >> well, just compare hong kong and the united states. whenever i go to hong kong, and i talk to people in industry and business, they say there's no purpose because they have a very low rate flat tax. no double taxation to speak of. so when you're in hong kong, you don't bother playing games. you simply decide where can i invest this money to get the highest return? which, of course, is exactly what we want people to do if we want workers to have higher wages forth to be more general prosperity. >> now, dan, i know steve mnuchin knows about all of this. i've heard him talk about hong kong. do you think that they are

working, the trump's economic team is already working on a tax plan part two where they would do something serious about bringing down the rates to the point where people don't use loopholes? >> i hope there's going to be a part two. i'm a little bit worried there won't be, though. by the time we factor in what is on the agenda for 2018 and then, of course, if republicans lose the house and or senate, that puts tax reform totally off the table. so i'm glad we got a piece of the pie this year in terms of lowering the corporate rate, curtailing the state and local tax deduction. but here's where we were, here's the flat tax, and then we went this far. 10 or 20% of the way. we could really do so much more for our economy. we have a lot more vitality if we got the government out of the way of trying to micromanage us through this 76,000 page atrocity of a tax

code. >> do we need a part two? >> i think a lot of republicans would like to see it go if you are the. but there's a lot of good being done with them. a lot of property in new york city. >> american has apple pie and baseball to try to do everything you can to pay as little taxes as possible. i think it's a good step in the right direction. david: is that true, though? does it cut loopholes? i haven't seen a lot of cutting of loopholes here. >> it did curtail the state and local tax deduction, because it propagates policy in states like new york and california. but whether you're talking about the easement, the green energy, the muni bond interest exemption,s health care, there's so much stuff still in there where people get to hide and shelter their income,

which of course, again, when tax rates are high, of course people would want to do that. but the rates come down across the board and the junk gets swept out of the tax code. david: by the way, ben is like a wild horse. i'm trying to pull him back right now i can feel him trying to get ahead. >> it is adding over a trillion dollars to the deficit. i don't understand how the republican party is able to rationalize their decision when passing this tax plan. it certainly can't be filled out on a postcard, perhaps the postcard for goliath or some giant mammoth. but this is a total and utter sham in many, many ways, and we'll see if these businesses actually create the jobs that they're promising with the rise of automation and all the other things. >> we will see. but there's certainly room for a part two tax plan. thank you for coming in. president obama sending a warning about social media use. was it aimed at his successor?

we'll tell you coming up

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david: president trump vowing to fulfill his promise for the border wall saying he might go see the prototype soon. but where does the process go

from here? the president of the border patrol foundation ronald joins us now. so, ronald, if i understand it -- correct me if i'm wrong but i believe there are eight prototypes right now that are kind of being set up, and they're all vying for the government contracts; right? how do they differ, these prototypes? >> yes, david, there are eight prototypes that were selected in the process. they've been constructed near the san diego area near the border. now, they differ in style and design based on each company's provided product. it's actually in the phase now where they call red teaming where special operations personnel from the department of homeland security and most likely the department of defense test for vulnerabilities along with engineers as well. i think it's important for the american people to remember that this is just one part of a system intended for along the border.

technology and manpower is just as important as the wall. david: well, we'll talk about that in a second. but do you have a horse in the race? is there one particular prototype that you believe is better than the others? >> no. i'm watching very carefully and waiting to see what the professionals and experts say. i am very familiar with the -- what the requirement is as a border patrol agent or former border patrol agent myself. but i'm not an engineer or a scientist, so i am waiting to see what the outcomes will be. now, interestingly, it will become the property of the u.s. government and not those of the companies. and probably will not be one single design because of the geographics and demographics for the differences along the 2,000 mile border. david: now, you guys justifiably take a lot of credit for what has happened over the past year. you've certainly been given a lot more support for the

government than you have before and have really risen to the occasion like nobody expected. there's been a dramatic drop-off in illegal penetration of our borders. how much do you think in addition to the wall we're going to have to beef up the personnel even more than it already has been? >> well, i think the president has been well briefed. he talked about several thousand personnel both in the border and in the interior. bringing consequences back to the border will be important as they sort of went away at the last administration. so it became an incentive to cross the border elicitly and into the u.s. so bringing consequences along with manpower and technology and the tactical infrastructure of defense. and that right combination is what will finally once and for all bring security to our borders. >> well, and i just have to compliment you guys. it is a thankless. i know a couple of border guards who have been through

hell quite literally on several occasions. it is very often a thankless job. almost always a very dangerous job, and you all have done a magnificent job of it. congratulations to you. please keep up the good work. all right? >> thank you. david: thank you. appreciate it. well, proem sending a warning about social media in a conversation with prince harry. but he did not directly mention his successor. take a listen. >> all of us in leadership have to find ways in which we can recreate a common space on the internet. one of the dangers of the internet is that people can have entirely differently realities. they can be cocooned in information of their current biases. david: everyone wants to make everything political but just take it for its face value. i think he's right. i think the internet has this extraordinary power to suck

people into a virtual reality where everything they read is accompanied by a video that makes it seem more real, even if it's not. and that's dangerous, no? >> well, i guess in the sense that we create our own ecochambers when we selectively choose who we're going to follow on twitter and facebook and those news sources as our own independent reality. i think president obama is forgetting that he himself is divisive over the period of his presidency and then this is not something unique to president trump for being someone who for a big part of america doesn't agree with. >> i think it's -- without a doubt donald trump's social media presence. if you look at the polls and just look at his twitter, it is -- there is a lot of negativity. there is a lot of people who it is having an unsettling affect off americans. they wake up every morning. there's -- i always say in my radio show that there's going to be a heart condition diagnosed 20 years down the road.

just a layer of fat under the heart of everyone that lived under the trump presidency. >> i mean, let's face it. some bernie supporters have been involved in some awful. without taking sides here, the fact that there is this political virtual reality that people tend to cocoon themselves within these days, it's dangerous, no matter which side it's on. >> well, and that's why you have someone like an alexjones, literally telling people that sandy hook was fake. people begin to take this stuff so seriously as flogs slowly come to a boil, they're dead. >> is there a solution? is there a way to break out of this? >> therthere is a solution. for people to not wake up in the morning whether it's the president of the united states or anyone else on twitter saying. people have to take a little bit of responsibility for

themselves and take people are saying with a grain of salt. maybe they're partisan. maybe they have a different world view and just live your life. take a break from social media every now and then. >> here's one question i have. what about kids? i see so many kids who are like five years old with ipads. maybe it's because i live in manhattan. but i think even outside of the city you see that sort of thing. i think that's dangerous. >> oh, we are going towards -- i was just talking about this the other night with a couple of parents. we are going towards full emergence into the technology world. >> go fishing. >> i think it's good parenting. >> i want to agree with ben. but i think back to 24 hours ago when we sat up our kid with a ipad. >> i remember television when people were relatively new and people were worried about setting the kid in front of the tv. but you have an infant

electronic baby-sitter. thank you so much, guys. great hour. appreciate it. tesla's elon musk announcing a pickup truck will be the company's next big project. but will it mean big profits? i mean wish i had time to take care of my portfolio, but.. well, what are you doing tomorrow -10am? staff meeting. noon? eating. 3:45? uh, compliance training. 6:30? sam's baseball practice. 8:30? tai chi. yeah, so sounds relaxing. alright, 9:53? i usually make their lunches then, and i have a little vegan so wow, you are busy. wouldn't it be great if you had investments that worked as hard as you do? yeah. introducing essential portfolios. the automated investing solution that lets you focus on your life. . . . .

david: we'll have the latest on all the day's top stores an "after the bell" at 4:00 p.m. right here. karl rove joins us on what tax cuts and strong economy mean for

the gop challengers in in 2018. right now it is a little early but i'm sure trish regan knows what to do with it. trish: david, thank you for the extra seconds. new revelations of possible political bias at fbi. now one republican congressman from florida says it is time to quote purge the agency of ants at this trump people. congressman francis rooney is here. he joins me in a few moments. i'm trish regan, welcome to "the intelligence report." a top white house official telling fox the administration is considering rewriting health care rules to make it easier to buy cheaper health plans. we'll have all the details on that. it's a topic we've been following very closely here on the "intelligence report," that whole fat cat carried interest loophole. a lot of you guys have been asking me on social media whether and if the president can fix this loophole given that the bill is a